Hyderabad’s new international airport is all set to receive its first commercial flights as part of test operations on Tuesday.

The GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL) announced that a Kingfisher Airlines A320 and a Boeing 747 of Jet Airways will land on the runway at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad, about 25 km from the city. GHAIL on Friday announced that the aircrafts with selected invitees and VIPs would take off from the existing airport at Begumpet in the heart of the city for Mumbai on Tuesday morning. The flights will then take off for the new airport at Shamshabad at 2 pm.

The Kingfisher flight will be the first to touch down on the runway at 4.10 pm while the Jet Airways flight will land 15 minutes later.

Union Minister for Civil Aviation Praful Patel and Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy will receive the passengers on the tarmac. “These will be the first commercial flights to land at the airport,” said a GHIAL official. The authorities have already tested the facilities with smaller aircraft. With the landing and take-off of commercial flights, the facilities will prove their readiness for commercial operations from March 16.

UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi will formally inaugurate the airport on March 14. All flights to the existing airport will be diverted to the new airport from the early hours of March 16.